But last night on work I noticed two reboots of the PrPrPré+ $during$$working$$in$$the$$Photo$$and$$Contact$$applications$. $Because$$I$$assumed$$Battery$$Monitor$$as$$a$$possible$$reason$$I$$stopped$$using$$it$$after$$first$$half$$of$$the$$night$. $Without$$running$$BM$$there$$was$$no$$more$$reboot$$but$$it$$has$$to$$bear$$in$$mind$$that$$I$$did$$not$$try$$to$$reproduce$$the$$situation$$explained$$above$. $Could$$it$$be$$that$$the$$Pr$é+ $could$$be$$unstable$$when$$using$$Battery$$Monitor$? $It$$seems$$for$$me$$that$$the$$reboots$$happens$$when$$several$$layers$$were$$opened$$and$$all$$of$$them$$using$$resources$.

By the way: Due to the reboots the datas of BM were lost. Could it be made to save these datas for a period so you can recall them to get an info for that period in a graph?

Haddock

I'd be surprised if the crash was due to battery monitor but to be sure of that can you provide the following: webOS version, custom kernel (if so which one and details pertaining to like governor settings and cpu speed), patches installed, did too many cards error occur around the time of the crashes (if so what other apps were used prior to the crash), was there anything odd prior to the crash like delayed screen turning on in response to power button or opening KB or pressing a key or unresponsive to touching the screen?

Data storage is something I plan on adding but is something that will be awhile before complete. It probably will be as complex as the app currently is because it will tie into all of the current features and what not. Plus unless I'm misinformed data storage is getting a make over and I don't want to jump in quite yet adding all the stuff related to it in case whats coming is better than the current. I'm definately with you in the desire to have the capability as I to have situations where the app closed be it a crash or accidental tossed off when closing multiple apps in a row or a doh I did a luna restart and forgot I was testing battery stats. In fact I would love a developer or two help with data storage integration and also running the app in the background as of all the desire features they are the most complex so far and the more heads working out how to do it the better. Especially running in the background since I have not been able to find a solid example of how to do it. Like a hello world sample that runs in the background.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.

I'd be surprised if the crash was due to battery monitor but to be sure of that can you provide the following: webOS version, custom kernel (if so which one and details pertaining to like governor settings and cpu speed), patches installed, did too many cards error occur around the time of the crashes (if so what other apps were used prior to the crash), was there anything odd prior to the crash like delayed screen turning on in response to power button or opening KB or pressing a key or unresponsive to touching the screen?

I have the device about 2 weeks so all installations were new and never updated.

There was no sign of odd things or failures before the crashes. I can't reproduce things I have done in the time before, but just before each of both crashes I was looking something in the Photo app, leaving the card open, called the Contact app, typing some letters to search for and the PrPrPré+ $was$$rebooting$. $In$$both$$cases$$only$$these$$cards$$were$$open$ ($that$$is$$sure$): $BM$, $Calendar$, $eMail$, $Photo$$and$$Contacts$.

Like I said I assume that BM could be the reason because it was the last PreWare app I installed days after I was installing all other homebrew things. And the PrPrPré+ $was$$running$$stable$$in$$that$$time$$before$$BM$. $So$$that$$is$$the$$reason$$for$$my$$question$.

It seems in this moment you should not care to much importance in my question from yesterday about stability of the PrPrPré+ $in$$conjunction$$with$$Battery$$Monitor$.

This night I was using the device much more than the night before, even with the same procedures. There was no crash and also the current consumption was more less than last night.

The only thing I made was a "cold boot" of the PrPrPré+ $on$$the$$last$$day$. $Seems$$it$$must$$have$$this$$type$$of$ &$quot$;$refreshing$&$quot$; $every$$couple$$of$$days$$like$$all$$other$$Palm$$devices$$I$$have$$had$$before$.

So next time I will watch this behavior a longer time before I will begin to whine here...

It seems in this moment you should not care to much importance in my question from yesterday about stability of the PrPrPré+ $in$$conjunction$$with$$Battery$$Monitor$.

This night I was using the device much more than the night before, even with the same procedures. There was no crash and also the current consumption was more less than last night.

The only thing I made was a "cold boot" of the PrPrPré+ $on$$the$$last$$day$. $Seems$$it$$must$$have$$this$$type$$of$ &$quot$;$refreshing$&$quot$; $every$$couple$$of$$days$$like$$all$$other$$Palm$$devices$$I$$have$$had$$before$.

So next time I will watch this behavior a longer time before I will begin to whine here...

Greetings
Haddock

No worries I just wanted to see if there may be a reproducible case with other pre+ owners in the event this came up again. I have all but one of the patches you listed install so I thought I would try and replicate your actions with all those apps open but seems everything was fine. I don't have a pre+ though. It may very well be that it was one of the 1.4.x crash bugs that have been identified as bugs and it looks like combination efforts between palm and the community have made head work on tracking down the cause. It is always a good idea to reboot smartphones periodically (frequency depending on usage). I personally had been doing so once a week but I am thinking it would be better to do so once every 2-3 days with my usage. I had an anomalous day for battery life. My guess is data glitching as I had so far over 3 times the normal drain for my normal usage. Had problems with yahoo mail, twitter, and facebook all data connection errors probably some localized interference due to storms.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.

Did you have a data connection? So far I personally only seen the graph not render if there is a data connection problem or if it is off and once or twice the image didn't draw and switching between time segments or going in and out of landscape redrew the image. If this is still happening could you reboot your device, test your data connection, if the connection is good then run battery monitor again and see if the graph still doesn't show. If it doesn't try rotating to and from landscape say 5 or 6 times giving it say 5 seconds or so to render the image each time. Also try the other graph types too if still no graph showing to see if it is all of them or just the one. If it still doesn't appear please provide details of your device model, webOS version, carrier, and if you have any data mods/patches. With that info we can try and match up some test cases to reproduce the problem and try and find a solution.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.

Did you have a data connection? So far I personally only seen the graph not render if there is a data connection problem or if it is off and once or twice the image didn't draw and switching between time segments or going in and out of landscape redrew the image.

Yes, I have a data connection. I have the phone on the touchstone right now so I'll try your suggestions in the morning and let you know what I find out.

For the pictures in my previous post, I got up early in the morning to feed the cats, took the phone off the touchstone and started battery monitor. I then went back to bed for 4 hours and after I got up and checked, I didn't see any graph data.

Graph page indicator, also graph now starts at current time segment instead of first time segment

Added mA expressed as percent of battery capacity as a companion to the actual mA numbers, by default it assumes you have the stock 1150 mAh battery. Visit the settings scene to change this for extended batteries. If I missed any please let me know.

mA graph now shows the mA average in blue. This is a good way of seeing how usage pattern effects overall consumption.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.

Suggestion: It would be cool if you could add more 'time points' on the x axis of the graph (like the y-axis). Would this be possible? If you have a long time axis (5+ hours or so) and all you can see is the start point and the end point, it would be nice to see a tick mark for every hour (or half hour) in between.

Question: Sometimes I see more than one page for graphs (like 1/2 or 2/2) but when I cycle through them, both graphs look the same. Can you explain this? Why is there ever more than one graph 'page'?

I will be out of town for just shy of a week starting this morning (less than 12 hours from now). It has been requested of me for a short manual write up to detail the features etc. Basically a guide so to speak that not so tech savvy users can understand what things are and how the app works and common troubleshoots. This would cover things like a blurb about turning the device to either side for landscape mode to view the graph and indicate for troubleshooting if graph doesn't show to rotate to portrait and back to landscape or flip pages if more than one segment is available a few times if needed to get it to show. It seems occasionally a call to google's API URL times out so the image isn't drawn. Anyways if one or more people want to do the write up (word or openoffice format is fine unless you know how to code a scene and in the case feel free to design a help scene that can be added. I can then add it in and release it as 1.0.8.

Also I'm not sure what to do for version 1.0.9. I know the two features I have put off so far are running in background (no card) and save data to an archive of some sort like a database for external use or later retrieval with in the app. I figured those would make good 1.1 features. However I really need one or more people familiar with doing those aspects of coding to help me out make these happen. So if anyone would like to volunteer or knows someone who would please let me know.

Originally Posted by jdraket

Glad to see that someone has taken over this app - it's a great one!

Suggestion: It would be cool if you could add more 'time points' on the x axis of the graph (like the y-axis). Would this be possible? If you have a long time axis (5+ hours or so) and all you can see is the start point and the end point, it would be nice to see a tick mark for every hour (or half hour) in between.

Question: Sometimes I see more than one page for graphs (like 1/2 or 2/2) but when I cycle through them, both graphs look the same. Can you explain this? Why is there ever more than one graph 'page'?

Thanks!

I've been trying to come up with a way to do this though I have not put much thought into it as of yet. Currently how the x axis works is a variable holds the time as a string the graph segment was started for the left side and the right a variable checks the current time at each poll and updates it. They are then used as parts in creating the URL string that is sent to the google API which is used to generate the graphs image. This I carried over from the original design. What I'm not sure of at the moment is how to segment that like the y axis. Because the y axis is simply an integer value it can be divided mathematically. For example the percent battery remaining over time is simply 100 / 10 = increment by 10. So the API labels the y axis in increments of 10. I'll have to look at the API and see how to divide the x axis maybe draw 5 vertical lines from bottom to top? If that is possible.

Depending on what graph type you are using, the poll interval, and your usage patterns some segments will look almost the same. Each segment holds I think it is about 100 polls so that the data isn't so crammed it is unreadable. For example percent battery remaining over time will seem like that (especially with the biggest extended batteries) for several pages or more if usage is consistently light for long periods of time. I personally don't use that type I prefer the mA over time. But anyways do let me know which graph you are using and give me an idea of your usage patterns and how the graph type you are using would be better for your viewing? I can see what I can do to improve it.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.

I will be out of town for just shy of a week starting this morning (less than 12 hours from now). It has been requested of me for a short manual write up to detail the features etc. Basically a guide so to speak that not so tech savvy users can understand what things are and how the app works and common troubleshoots. This would cover things like a blurb about turning the device to either side for landscape mode to view the graph and indicate for troubleshooting if graph doesn't show to rotate to portrait and back to landscape or flip pages if more than one segment is available a few times if needed to get it to show. It seems occasionally a call to google's API URL times out so the image isn't drawn. Anyways if one or more people want to do the write up (word or openoffice format is fine unless you know how to code a scene and in the case feel free to design a help scene that can be added. I can then add it in and release it as 1.0.8.

Also I'm not sure what to do for version 1.0.9. I know the two features I have put off so far are running in background (no card) and save data to an archive of some sort like a database for external use or later retrieval with in the app. I figured those would make good 1.1 features. However I really need one or more people familiar with doing those aspects of coding to help me out make these happen. So if anyone would like to volunteer or knows someone who would please let me know.

I've been trying to come up with a way to do this though I have not put much thought into it as of yet. Currently how the x axis works is a variable holds the time as a string the graph segment was started for the left side and the right a variable checks the current time at each poll and updates it. They are then used as parts in creating the URL string that is sent to the google API which is used to generate the graphs image. This I carried over from the original design. What I'm not sure of at the moment is how to segment that like the y axis. Because the y axis is simply an integer value it can be divided mathematically. For example the percent battery remaining over time is simply 100 / 10 = increment by 10. So the API labels the y axis in increments of 10. I'll have to look at the API and see how to divide the x axis maybe draw 5 vertical lines from bottom to top? If that is possible.

Depending on what graph type you are using, the poll interval, and your usage patterns some segments will look almost the same. Each segment holds I think it is about 100 polls so that the data isn't so crammed it is unreadable. For example percent battery remaining over time will seem like that (especially with the biggest extended batteries) for several pages or more if usage is consistently light for long periods of time. I personally don't use that type I prefer the mA over time. But anyways do let me know which graph you are using and give me an idea of your usage patterns and how the graph type you are using would be better for your viewing? I can see what I can do to improve it.

I was using the % over time graph. I figured out what all the different plots were yesterday (but to reiterate your point about the users manual, this probably would have been cleared up if this were available).

Regarding the x time axis, perhaps you could just create a current time array variable that is added to every hour (or 1/2 hour increments) to be used in the graph? Not sure how the code is structured, but this seems pretty feasible.

To me, the current version is terrific, thanks! I'd only suggest two things: 1) an option to plot the y axis as (mA as % drain/hr) rather than mA; and 2) keep the time axis scale constant (i.e. at the maximum interval), so all graph pages are the same.

Regarding the x time axis, perhaps you could just create a current time array variable that is added to every hour (or 1/2 hour increments) to be used in the graph? Not sure how the code is structured, but this seems pretty feasible.

This sounds like probably the way for me to do it. I can store the begin time and end time in a variable and split the time in segments. So rather than storing the item as hours:minutes in the variables then transfering that into the URL string I can covert the time into minutes and then calculate the splits and covert back to hour:minute format for the labels. I mainly was thinking drawing lines through the graph area as a way of reading where the axis labels reside in the data lines.

Originally Posted by Dr.Grace

To me, the current version is terrific, thanks! I'd only suggest two things: 1) an option to plot the y axis as (mA as % drain/hr) rather than mA; and 2) keep the time axis scale constant (i.e. at the maximum interval), so all graph pages are the same.

Oh yes I almost forgot I wanted to implement these. I was looking into a way of having the mA percent as a right side y axis on the existing mA graph if possible. Also I am not sure how I'm going to solve the y axis scale so that the top end of the axis is the same for all graph segments. Basically when the y axis is initialized it assumes that the mA at the time of launching battery monitor is the top and increases the top if mA exceeds the previous top value. Originally when I modified for segmenting the graph for virtually unlimited polls graphed the top would reset for each segment and make the top of the new segment the mA at the first poll of the new segment. I changed that to retain the top of the previous segment so that it was more consistent but I am not sure how I'm going to go back and change the top of previous segments.

Basically how the graph itself works is I have to calculate the data and then form from those variables a string variable of the URL that is sent to the google API to form the chart which is then rendered as an image in the app. To change the top of a previous segment I would need to change the string for previous segments to include the new top. The way I'm thinking would be easiest is to split the string before and after the portion of the URL that defines the top then join the string segments back together with the new top value in it's place. I just have to look at the URL string and JSJSJS$string$$manipulation$$to$$make$$sure$$I$$will$$be$$able$$to$$do$$it$$this$$way$. $If$$not$$I$$will$$have$$to$$figure$$out$$a$$diferent$$way$$to$$build$$the$$URL$$strings$. $Currently$$the$$only$$variables$$retained$, $that$$is$$to$$say$$aren$'$t$$replaced$$with$$new$$data$, $is$$the$$array$$holding$$the$$URL$$strings$$for$$the$$chart$$segments$. $All$$other$$variables$$are$$altered$$during$$each$$poll$.

Oh the time axis until I can solve why some intervals seem to get skipped the time span won't be constant. Each graph segment contains a defined number of polls so depending on the interval the number of polls should be reached after 2 hours but for some reason 20% of the polls got skipped the time axis would reflect a longer period of the time. The number of polls that appears to get skipped is not constant and may be out of my control. If the screen is on or the device is charging the no polls get skipped. Which is why I think it is something exterior to the app causing it.

Last edited by StoneRyno; 05/27/2010 at 07:22 PM.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.

Hey StoneRyno, big props to you for taking over this app and making great strides in its functionality and use. Your efforts are appreciated by many webOS users out there. Also thanks to Neville for being the first to create the app; Neville laid a solid foundation with which to work from.

I have a few suggestions for improvements to this app:

1. This one is easy: would you please add a 2 minute interval? My battery drain seems to be unusually higher with 1-minute intervals and is markedly lower with 5 and 10 minute intervals set. However, 5-minute intervals is a huge jump from 1-minute and is not as useful. Polling at 1-minute in my opinion is too short, while 5-minutes is too long. For the next release may I suggest adding 2-min, 3-min and 4-min intervals, if for nothing but to give us that option. Once this setting is saved (thanks for that, by the way!) we do not see this until we want to change again, so it doesn't really clutter the UI. I believe this is an easy update, and if everyone thinks it is a bad idea it can be taken out in a future release, much like the 1-second and 15-second interval trials. I chose 2, 3 and 4 as they divide nicely into an hour, but I think 2-min intervals would be the most useful.

2. I have to agree with Dr. Grace in that a drain-per-hour calculated on the last few points of data would be extremely useful. If device usage goes from 'idle' to 'heavy use' (my phone sits in my pocket idle until I go to lunch when I fire up Pandora, Comics, Messaging and a browser card, among others), I would like to see the impact to DPH. When my batter usage take a nose dive like this I would like to see how much 'heavy use' drains the battery during this time.

3. I am just starting to get into programming so I am by far knowledgeable on webOS coding, but would you please explain why graphing data needs to call on google for this? It would be great not only as a tutorial for lay-people such as myself, but perhaps someone can find a better solution? I like the graph, but I believe it is limited since you need to have a data connection to draw a simple graph. There has to be some alternative method that does not rely on a data connection and/or to draw a graph; this would be helpful when doing testing in Airplane mode. Is this how the "Govnah" app draws graphs as well? It just seems limiting. I mean no offense when I say this; again I am just beginning my studies in programming languages and possibly and talking gibberish.

That's all for now. I have used this app heavily since its creation by Neville and really hope its functionality takes off now that we have a super awesome person working on it! Your contributions are amazing so far!

For the next release may I suggest adding 2-min, 3-min and 4-min intervals, if for nothing but to give us that option.

Will do. I'm surprised that you observe increase drain at 1 minute intervals. In my testing 1 minute and longer intervals consumed 1 maybe 2mA per hour and 15 and 30sec intervals consumed 2 maybe 3mA per hour. So when my device is idle with all of my other stuff I got going on in the background my devices idle consumption is 20mA per hour give or take about 2mA per hour.

Originally Posted by a dumb cat

2. I have to agree with Dr. Grace in that a drain-per-hour calculated on the last few points of data would be extremely useful.

I would like to do this as well but I need to learn how to use the formula previously linked to in order to implement it. Unfortunately it is beyond my math knowledge from the looks of the formula. If anyone can explain to me how the formula works or knows a source that can teach me how to use it I can get to work on it.

Originally Posted by a dumb cat

3. I am just starting to get into programming so I am by far knowledgeable on webOS coding, but would you please explain why graphing data needs to call on google for this?

I stuck with the original design from neville and simply modified it to fit the additions and changes to the data tracked. I assume the reason it was chosen was for simplicity since google provided an API their service does all the leg work. All the code we had to do is one line that makes the URL for the API.

Originally Posted by a dumb cat

There has to be some alternative method that does not rely on a data connection and/or to draw a graph; this would be helpful when doing testing in Airplane mode. Is this how the "Govnah" app draws graphs as well? It just seems limiting. I mean no offense when I say this; again I am just beginning my studies in programming languages and possibly and talking gibberish.

Currently I have an array that holds the URLs that make each graph segment so even if you are in airplane mode once you have a data connection the graph can be viewed. I haven't looked at how govnah graphs but I assumed they used the google API as well. I will look into it and also welcome any alternatives to using it as well. At this time I'm not aware of any but I also have not seen the need to look for alternatives.

As requested: for my works on webOS patches and apps. Twitter: @larryboytwPatches: Small icons browser start page, 5x5 launcher. I have an AAS CIS Programming degree. I enjoy working on open source projects and alpha and beta testing.http://install.preware.org/ for easy to get up and running for patches and apps.